


Communication

by luxuryproblems



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Deaf Character, Developing Friendships, F/M, I really like how this came out, i dont know how to tag things but listen. it's actually really nice., it's more likely than you think., it's not romantic it's just really sweet, marvin and whizzer? shipping trina and mendel?, read the notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 00:50:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11863185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxuryproblems/pseuds/luxuryproblems
Summary: “I want you to teach me the basics of sign language. I wanna befriend Mendel.”





	Communication

**Author's Note:**

> i want to apologize in advance for the fact that the depiction of a deaf character in this one shot will not be completely accurate. i am not deaf and do not know anyone who is, and therefore have based this entirely off of a few articles i have read, as well as pure fiction. trina makes a joke towards the beginning that could be seen as disrespectful, but she makes it because she doesn't know that mendel is deaf, as she doesn't know him to begin with. this fic is not accurate whatsoever, and if the entire thing can be seen as insensitive, please tell me, and i will take it down immediately. thank you, and i hope you enjoy.
> 
> just for it to be understood, when trina is signing to mendel and i put it in quotations, if there are ellipses in between random words, it's trying to indicate that trina is trying to remember the words, or the way she has to sign them. with the names, i put dashes in between each letter to show that they were signing it out with letters. she's really trying. she's a good lady.

The first day Trina found out who Mendel was, she was absolutely intrigued. 

She was walking through the halls of Jefferson High School during her lunch period, having a conversation with Charlotte, who was skipping her English class due to there being a substitute, about an alleged new boy from a few towns over, that neither of them had seen yet. “Do you think he’s even real?” Trina joked, “Or do you think he’s fake, like the rumor that Whizzer fell off the roof of the building.”

A new body had joined the two girls walking down the hall when Trina mentioned Whizzer. It was Cordelia, she had emerged from the senior cafeteria to join her girlfriend and her close friend. “First of all,” she started, “that Whizzer rumor was real. I will die by the fact that he fell off the building.”

“So you did start that rumor!” Charlotte exclaimed, putting her arm around Cordelia’s body.

Cordelia shrugged with a smile, “What can I say, I’m a creative one.”

Walking down the opposite end of the hall were Marvin and a boy the three of them could not recognize. Marvin moved his hands in a quick fashion, speaking as he did so. The three didn’t think anything of it, as Marvin usually talked with his hands, but they began thinking when the unrecognized boy smiled, nodded, and replied with other hand movements. 

The boy looked down the hall at the three girls and smiles, turned to Marvin and began to move his hands again. Marvin looked at him, furrowed his eyebrows, looked at the three girls, then moved his hands again. The mysterious boy opened his mouth and let out a choked laugh.

Charlotte gasped at the movements and looked at Trina, before shouting down the hall at Marvin, “Hey gay!” 

Marvin looked up at her and waved slightly, then went back to the shorter male next to him. He made a gesture, then the boy smiled and gestured something similar back, before entering the library. The three girls made their way down the hall and met up with their other gay friend. “So,” Trina asked, holding her class binder under her arm, and gesturing with her free hand, “who was that mystery boy that you were throwing gang signs with?”

The male snort-laughed at Trina, as did Charlotte. “Trina, sweet girl, that’s Mendel. That’s the new boy that’s got everyone talking.”

“So he is real!” Cordelia exclaimed with a smile, before the librarian ducked out of the room to shush them.

Marvin nodded. “Yeah, that’s Mendel. Nice kid, I have last period gym with him, apparently.”

“What gang did the two of you join to be throwing gang signs to each other when you leave?” Trina asked. Part of her was completely serious, while part of her wanted to just piss Marvin off.

Marvin stared at her. “Trina. Mendel’s deaf. That was the wonderful art that is sign language.” Trina stared back, blinked, and her mouth fell into an ‘o’ shape. Trina had never met a deaf person before, surprisingly, as Trina had met and befriended almost everyone who was considered ‘different’ despite the fact that they were just normal people. Marvin realized she felt bad about what she said and quickly continued on. “Yeah, he’s a really nice kid. The two of you would get along really well!” He expressed. 

Trina nodded, and the four of them walked down the hall, as Trina could not keep her mind off of Mendel, and what she could do to communicate with him.

For the next six school days, Trina saw Mendel everyday in the hallway. And, being herself, she would wave and smile to him. This made his eyes light up, and he would mouth the word ‘hi’ or wave back every time. She wanted to make this boy smile, as her very simple gestures of kindness seemed to make his day better. 

On the seventh day, she did the same thing when exiting the building, and got the same response from him. Only this time, she didn’t pay attention to where see was walking and slammed her body into Whizzer’s causing her to tumble backwards. Luckily, Whizzer had fast reflexes, and caught her before she fell completely. 

“You seem to be in a trance, girlie, what’s wrong?” Whizzer asked, still holding her in a dipped down position. 

Trina quickly scrambled to stand up as Whizzer bent and picked up the binder she dropped. “Just, got a lot on my mind. Do you know where Marvin is? I need to talk to him.” She explained quickly.

“Marvin’s gay, Trina-”

“Marvin knows sign language, and I need to learn some form of it, Whizzer. Help your favorite heterosexual out for once!” Trina said, half serious and half jokingly through gritted teeth. 

Whizzer made an ‘oh!’ noise, realizing Trina wanted to communicate with the new kid that he had human geography with. “He’s at his house until like six or so, then he has a mock trial meeting. You should go catch him quickly now, before he gets sucked into the hell that is mock trial.”

Trina thanked Whizzer fast, before running across the parking lot, jumping into her car, and driving off, fast. Within five minutes, she was outside of Marvin’s house, which was normally a ten minute drive from the school. 

And Marvin’s car was in the driveway, and Marvin was in the car. Trina slammed on the car horn and Marvin jumped, looking behind him. Trina looked at him, waved, and mouthed, “give me two seconds.”

She parked her car on the street and got out of it, jogging up to his window and knocking on it. He rolled it down just enough so they could hear each other. “You’re an asshole, get out of the car, I need you for something!” Trina exclaimed. She really, really wanted to become friends with Mendel, and she couldn’t do that on just waving in the hallway alone. 

Marvin opened the car door as Trina stepped out of the way. He looked at her, held back a chuckle, and asked, “What do you want?”

“I want you to teach me the basics of sign language. I wanna befriend Mendel.” 

Marvin smiled widely. “Well, I have mock trial in a few hours,” Trina groaned at his statement, before he shushed her, “but our teacher wasn’t in today, so I don’t have to go.” Trina silently cheered. He got out of the car completely and gestured for her to come inside, as his parents currently were not home at the time. 

Trina and Marvin dated from the middle of freshman year to the beginning of sophomore year, before Marvin had came out to himself and to those around him. It took a few months, but the two of them mended their broken bond and were now the best of friends. Trina came over on Sunday nights to watch Game of Thrones, and Marvin went over to Trina’s on Tuesday and Wednesdays to watch America’s Got Talent, so they were practically best friends. 

Marvin took Trina inside of his house, the two sat on the old leather couch in the living room, and Marvin got to teaching. Marvin texted Trina multiple videos on American Sign Language, videos teaching phrases, basic words, and conversation starters. He taught her how to say many common words, responses, and phrases like “how are you,” “what are you doing later,” and, “do you want to hang out?” 

They went over a few conversations with Marvin just signing to her, then Trina signing, whispering what she was signing so she could understand the language better. By about midnight, spending nine hours of constant learning with the occasional break just for the two of them to dick around, Trina could have a very basic conversation in American Sign Language, knew the alphabet, and many, many random words. 

By the next morning, a rainy and cold Thursday, she was ready to try to talk to Mendel. 

She was definitely not ready to try to talk to Mendel. 

Trina found out that Mendel, Marvin, and Whizzer had the same lunch period together, which happened to be sixth period, when Trina had gym. Trina snuck off of the field, back into the building, and was inside the senior cafeteria by the time the sixth period bell rang. 

Whizzer ditched walking into the room with Marvin in order to sit next to Trina as Mendel and Marvin entered the cafeteria, declaring that he had to sit next to his favorite heterosexual. Marvin laughed, signed something about what Whizzer said to Mendel, and Mendel laughed along. 

Trina looks at Mendel and smiles at him, before beginning to try to sign to him. “Hello… M-E-N-D-E-L. How… are you… doing?” 

Mendel smiles wide at her attempts to communicate. He signs back quickly, almost too fast for Trina to understand. “I’m doing good, how about you?” 

“I’m… good. How… do you like… the school?” She signs. Her signs are slow, as she took in so much information last night that it takes her a few seconds in between every few words to remember some of the signs. She’s trying her hardest, and Mendel can see that. He really, really appreciates that. 

He signs, slowing down a little bit so Trina can understand better, “The school is nice. What’s your name? I never got it.” 

This is a question Trina can respond to without stopping. She knows this one well. “My name is T-R-I-N-A.” 

Mendel smiles, “It’s really nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to… meet you too.” Trina signs back. She looks to her side to see Marvin and Whizzer. They’re both furiously texting. Whizzer will send one text, look up at Marvin with wide eyes, Marvin would smile, then reply fast. It was a cycle that would repeat. Trina looks over at Whizzer’s phone to see their messages. 

The two of them are talking about how much this meant to Mendel. Mendel came from a school where a lot of people didn’t really try to get to know him, they just kinda brushed him off as the deaf kid. Trina taking the time to learn some sign language, although she wasn’t very good at it, meant the world to Mendel. It made him feel wanted in the world. 

Trina shoved Whizzer, who looked at her with a smile, then went back to texting Marvin.

She turns back to Mendel, and he sighs, “Can I ask you a question?” 

“Yes,” she sighs back with her fist.

“Do you want to go out for coffee sometime after school?” He sighs quickly. Trina doesn’t catch some of it. Basically, from that sigh, she understands, “Do you want… coffee sometime…school.” She knows for a fact she’s missing almost all that question, but she can still get the gist of it. She did remember many random words from Marvin teaching her last night, and coffee was one of them.

Trina gives a sweet smile, before signing back a response. “That sounds… really nice.” 

“Is today okay? I know a nice place.” 

“Absolutely.”

Immediately after she signs that and Mendel signs back a response that’s something like, “I’ll see you then,” Trina’s phone dings. She looks down at her lap and opens her phone. It’s a text message from Marvin.

“The sprout of young love is blooming right now in the garden of Trina and Mendel.”

Trina laughs quietly, quickly responds something she can’t remember, then shows Mendel the text. Before he gets a chance to read it, Marvin is snatching her phone away, yelling something about the love being too early to expose it. 

Trina laughs hard this time, and although he can’t hear it, Mendel can feel how nice this moment is, and laughs too.


End file.
